This fascinating disc presents Tadeás Salva as “one of the foremost
Slovakian composers of his generation”. I think many collectors would
be hard put to name many more. The booklet note by Vladimir Godár is
invaluable, but given the difficulty of finding information about the composer,
it is a pity that it doesn’t go further. The recordings, which are very
fine, are not new but seem not to have been widely available before.

The Cello Concerto is very much a work of its time. It might have been written
by any one of several European avant-garde composers whose reputation has its
origin in the sixties. One of these is undoubtedly Ligeti, and indeed that composer’s
Cello Concerto is cited in the booklet as a model for this one. The music is
hyperactive and immediately striking. I have listened to it four times and am
still only beginning to discern its form and its aims. The booklet notes tell
me that there are two movements, for example, but I’m still unsure where
the second movement begins. The instrumental ensemble is made up of five fairly
unrelated instruments plus an extensive percussion section, and the first impression
is one of unrelieved scratching, blowing and - especially - bashing. This kneejerk
reaction is modified on subsequent hearings, during which one begins to hear
a much wider range of instrumental colour and thematic content. The cello writing
is highly challenging, and rarely exploits the instrument’s singing capacities.
There are aleatoric elements in the work, but I have not seen a score and would
certainly not be able to identify where they occur. The work is a compelling
one, but it does not give up its secrets easily. The performance seems sensationally
surefooted and committed.

One’s first reaction is that this is to be a challenging disc. This turns
out to be only partly the case, as later in the composer’s career he turned
more and more to folk music, integrating it into his own, modernist style. Twenty
years later, for example, in the Slovak Concerto Grosso No. 3 - Salva adopted
this title for several of his chamber works - the music is far more tonal and
with perfectly audible folk influence. It is still packed with incident, with
only a few points of repose occurring in the last of the three movements. The
instrumental writing is highly inventive, and this is a most attractive and
enjoyable work overall.

If the Cello Concerto barely makes use of the instrument’s singing power,
the Little Suite makes up for it. That feature, combined with a musical language
even more tonal and consonant than that of the Concerto Grosso, combine to make
this work more approachable still. In addition should be noted the real distinction
and attractiveness of the musical ideas. The Three Arias are less immediately
attractive but repay no less repeated listening. In the first piece cello and
piano parts turn obsessively around a very few short motifs. This, like much
of the music in this collection, is nervous and constantly moving. The second
aria begins in much the same mood, and indeed the whole work, with the exception
of one short passage in the third piece where the temperature dips for an instant,
is one of unrelenting intensity. The Eight Preludes were left unfinished at
Salva’s untimely death. Each of the short pieces makes much use of imitation
and folk elements. The music is rather ascetic, an almost inevitable consequence
of the forces used. Perhaps more were planned, but otherwise there is nothing
here to suggest that the work is incomplete, not even the abrupt, unexpected
endings which are a feature of many of the works in this collection.

The name Tadeás Salva was new to me, and may well be to the majority
of readers. This is a useful introduction to his work. Eugen Prochác
is a very fine cellist indeed, and I should be very fascinated to hear him in
more central repertoire. He is joined on this disc by a number of other Slovak
instrumentalists. With world-class playing such as this, they are indeed splendid
ambassadors for the composer.

Anyone with an interest in the byways of modern music should not miss this disc.

William Hedley

Anyone with an interest in the byways of modern music should not miss this disc.